Saturday, March 25, 2017

India got its
name from Indus valley civilisation (3300 – 1300 BC), probably one of the well
known and developed civilisations. Based on the historical facts available on
internet, we find that the people of Indus valley preached 3 religions –
Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. To support the argument, archaeologists have unearthed
artefacts such as stone portraits of mother goddess (see pic), a father god who
we consider as synonymous to Lord Shiva acting as a progenitor of the race.
Further evidences pertaining to worshipping of Pipal or Acasia tree by the
locals to guard them against evil forces. They followed the ritual of criminating
the dead along with some offerings and last but not the least, the Great Bath
of Mohenjo-Daro can be thought of as a sacred tank which we find today in
various temples and sacred places of worship where people take bath and purify
their soul and body.

On the
contrary, the first evidence of Islam in India can be traced back to 7th
century AD. Cheraman Juma Masjid in Kerala is thought to be the first mosque in India,
built in 629 AD by Malik lbn Dinar. Islam arrived in North India in the 12th century via the Turkic invasions and has since become a part of India's religious and
cultural heritage. We have heard about mass conversions of Hindus
to adopt Islam by Muslim rulers. Comparing 2011 and 1951 census data, Hindus have dwindled to
79.8% from 84.1% and Muslims have gone up to 14.23% from 9.8%.

We call our
country as Bharat and Hindustan. The root word of Hindustan is ‘Hindu’ and ‘Bharat’
is also a word from Devanagri. So technically our country is of Hindu origin
and Muslims are our guest or mehman as they landed on our motherland much
later. Despite this fact we have treated them with great honour by offering
them citizenship, fundamental rights and even subsidies in the name of minority
quota. Even after giving them such luxuries, when we hear certain news about ‘intolerance’,
‘award vaapsi’ ‘we want freedom’, the blood of patriotic and nationalist
citizen boils at 500 ℃. Why cannot we live at peace with each other? Who do you blame for this ongoing ‘Anti-India
‘campaign across various Indian universities? Why is #ISIS finding its roots so
easily in India? All these thoughts traverse in the back of my mind and keep
asking the same question time and again, “Are we really secular”?

The dictionary meaning of
Secular is - not connected with religious or spiritual
matters or of clergy) not subject to or bound by religious rule; not belonging
to or living in a monastic or other order. By this definition it is clear that our country
cannot be secular in any way. We have people from
different faiths and religions and are engaged in a constant hate war with each
other to prove the worthiness of each religion. We have witnessed lot of
intolerance debate recently. My viewpoint on this issue is that one should
remain tolerant only when his/her belief is not shaken. Once that point of
reached, Newton’s 3rd law applies and you are authorized to reply
back in a wise manner. Getting physical is not a solution but holds “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind” to be true.

It is high time we realize that
there are certain black sheep amongst us who are playing cheap politics to
continue burning the fire for their vested interests. But as they say, “.No one can escape Karma.
Karma comes back and comes back strongly because Karma is a Bitch”.

Lastly I want to quote
Bhagvadgita, chapter 4, verse 11,

All who in whatever way surrender
unto me, I reward them accordingly. All mankind follows my path, O Arjuna, in
all respects.

On the contrary taking a cue from
Holy Quran,

Clearly, both religious scriptures promote love and brotherhood but there
is a catch. Both preach their own path. I would leave it unto you to decide
what is right and wrong. I have chosen my religion and it is ~Humanity.

Thursday, March 16, 2017

It is a
bright sunny Sunday morning and Raghu as usual is insisting to play his
favorite game – ‘Alien Attack’. After an hour of his stubbornness, his mother
gave in and told him to go but warned him to be back before dark. Kids as usual
don’t pay heed to parent’s advice. He called Ram to join his bandwagon. Soon
after Raghu, Ram and Alia went to nearby park with their mission kit to play
Alien attack. In the meantime they were discussing about their playing
strategy, Alia’s got distracted by a sharp reflection of white light. She got
curious and followed the reflection. In a couple of minutes, she shouted and
her other two companions joined her. A big oval shaped thing was lying before
them with a glass window on top. Suddenly the window opened and they could see
three chairs in it. All of them stepped inside and took their respective seats.
The window top closed. The mysterious machine started beeping loudly. The trio
got scared. Soon after a message in bold red appeared on a LCD screen in front
of them,” Wear seat belt. It is for your own safety”. They swung into action
and tied themselves firmly. The machine made a loud sound and lifted itself
from the ground and started revolving in clockwise motion. It was like spin
cycle of automatic washing has begun. In a flash of a minute they were in dark
sky, surrounded by big huge circular planets staring angrily at them as if they
were questioning the entry of intruders in their area. The spaceship flew at
never imagined speed and reached a land full of snow. The LCD display outside
showed -150 degree Celsius. Three warm suits dropped from above their seats and
a harsh male voice commanded them to wear the suits. Then they were asked to
follow the glowing pathway lights up to a distant castle.

“Welcome to
the land of Pluto”.

I am the
king of this land,”BigMac”.

Raghu asked
the king,”My lord, why we have been brought here?”

The king gestured towards his left. A meek fellow with white
hair, big black spectacles stood and began to speak. I am Dr Morpan, researcher
at Pluto. We have found that people from Earth are constantly trying to intrude
our land by sending in rockets and astronauts. You people are so much power
hungry that you fight your own people for land, food, money and now you are
making our lives miserable. Then he showed them a movie over the past 10 years
how mankind has really polluted their atmosphere and their ill effects on them.
At the end of the movie, Dr Morepan said,” We have kidnapped you and we want to
negotiate with your people to leave our land or else you have to die”. A big
monstrous laugh leaves them stunned.

Meanwhile on Earth, Raghu’s mother got worried when he
didn’t turn up before dark. It was 08:00 PM now. She searched the entire
society, checked with security if Raghu went outside the gate. When nothing
worked out, she went to police station to register an FIR. On the other hand,
ISRO received an extra terrestrial message saying, “We have Raghu, Ram, and
Alia. Leave Pluto, we leave them”. There was a emergency alert sounded in
entire country. Home minister ordered to attack Pluto and bring back the kids
safe and sound. ISRO planned a nuclear warfare and planted MISSLE1990 targeting
Pluto. Minutes before the launch, they sent a warning message to Pluto asking
them to surrender and handover the kids. Dr Morepan analyzed the missile power
and advised the King to surrender else they will meet their end. The king got
terrified and asked his council to send a message of ceasefire to Earth.

Raghu, Alia and Ram were back in their park. When asked
where they went, all they could recall was nothing about their extra
terrestrial trip.

“I’m blogging my #ColgateMagicalstories at BlogAdda in association with Colgate.